DUSHANBE, December 10, 2015, Asia-Plus — Britain”s institutions, its law, media, and schools need to be overhauled to reflect that the country is no longer the Christian nation it once was, a major report said on December 7.
The report said there had been a “general decline” in Christian affiliation – with two in five people now identifying as such – coupled with a move away from mainstream denominations to evangelical and Pentecostal churches.
The Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life (Corab) said major national and civil events, including coronation ceremonies, should have a more “pluralist character” to reflect a shift in religious beliefs in British society.
A two-year inquiry into the place of religion in modern British society concluded that the UK”s religious landscape had changed beyond recognition in the last 50 years and said public life in Britain should reflect the fact that it is no longer a predominantly Christian country.
The number of Church of England bishops sitting in the House of Lords, Britain”s non-elected upper chamber, should be reduced to make way for more leaders of other faiths, it recommended.
The Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life, chaired by former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and involving religious leaders from all faiths, also said compulsory Christian assemblies in state schools should be dropped and replaced with an “inclusive time for reflection” and that bodies responsible for admission and hiring in faith schools should take steps to reduce pupils and staff being selected according to their beliefs.
It called for national and civic events, right up to the coronation of the monarch — currently a ceremony conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England”s most senior cleric, in which the new king or queen pledges allegiance to the church — to be adapted to reflect the “pluralistic” nature of modern Britain.
It also recommended that the Ministry of Justice issue guidance on best practice and gender equality to formal and informal religious tribunals, and that steps be made to better increase “religion and belief literacy” among journalists.
The commission”s report, called
Living With Difference
, outlined three major trends regarding Britain”s religious make-up.
There has been a major growth in people describing themselves as non-religious — almost a half of the population compared to an eighth in England and a third in Scotland in 2001.
Thirty years ago, two thirds of the UK”s population would have identified as Christian, said the report, and today that figure is just four in 10. Within that Christian population there has been a big shift away from traditional denominations towards evangelical and Pentecostal churches.
Finally, among those who have a religious faith, there is much greater diversity. Judaism was the non-Christian religion with the greatest number of followers in the UK 50 years ago, although it still only accounted for 1 in every 150 people. Today it is the fourth largest, coming behind Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism.
